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flogigyahoo's review
4.0
Beautifully written this novel by Ben Fergusson follows the fate of Ingrid Hoffmann and her family from German Southwest Africa to Germany during World War I. 12 year old Ingrid and her 13 year old sister, Margarethe, do everything together until Ingrid is made to learn French by their half-caste 16 year old houseboy, Hans, and Margarethe is sent to the neighbor's farm owned by Baron von Ketz to play piano taken there by the same Hans, a ride on horseback of over 2 hours.
Margarethe soon begins to show signs of mental instability and the piano lessons stop until she is better. Before long the natives begin the Uprising and Baron von Ketz is murdered. The Baroness and her son Emil meet up with the Hoffman family, Hans to meet up with them again before they depart Africa. He never shows up and they return to Germany on the eve of World War I without him. Ingrid and her family worry continuously about Margarethe until the war is over and she becomes engaged to Emil,the new Baron. She disappears on their wedding night and it is only 5 years later that Ingrid will solve the mystery of where Hans went and what happened to Margarethe.
I enjoyed this book, but as I got to the end some things began to disturb me: We never take part in the Uprising but are only told about it; we never take part in the War but are told about it; we never see soldiers but only after the war when crippled or miserable they return home; Ingrid tries to find out what really happened to Hans and does so by chance; she tries to find out what happened to Margarethe and does so by chance. Too many times conversations are ended by either Margarethe or Ingrid bursting into tears. Some of the things that happen which are spoilers don't make much sense. Still, I like the book because of the beautiful writing and I will now read Fergusson's next book.
Margarethe soon begins to show signs of mental instability and the piano lessons stop until she is better. Before long the natives begin the Uprising and Baron von Ketz is murdered. The Baroness and her son Emil meet up with the Hoffman family, Hans to meet up with them again before they depart Africa. He never shows up and they return to Germany on the eve of World War I without him. Ingrid and her family worry continuously about Margarethe until the war is over and she becomes engaged to Emil,the new Baron. She disappears on their wedding night and it is only 5 years later that Ingrid will solve the mystery of where Hans went and what happened to Margarethe.
I enjoyed this book, but as I got to the end some things began to disturb me: We never take part in the Uprising but are only told about it; we never take part in the War but are told about it; we never see soldiers but only after the war when crippled or miserable they return home; Ingrid tries to find out what really happened to Hans and does so by chance; she tries to find out what happened to Margarethe and does so by chance. Too many times conversations are ended by either Margarethe or Ingrid bursting into tears. Some of the things that happen which are spoilers don't make much sense. Still, I like the book because of the beautiful writing and I will now read Fergusson's next book.
fionayule's review
2.0
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for their advance copy in return for an honest review.
Ingrid Hoffmann's sister disappears on her wedding night and Ingrid is left bewildered by her sisters sudden disappearance.
Ingrid's story is set against a background from the tribal uprisings in German Southwest Africa to the Berlin before and after World War One.
Germany after the Great War is depicted well in the lack of young men, money and the effects of the women left behind. And Ingrid is quite a good character. She is intelligent and adaptable but she spends a lot of time tip toeing round. Her sister on the other hand is unbearable and it is almost a relief for the novel when Margarete goes missing. Ingrid however, is torn by her sister’s disappearance, and spends the rest of the novel finding answers.
The book is not an exhaustive investigation by Ingrid though. At times she appears to have no structure to her search, and she leaves many questions unanswered. The story in itself becomes lost in the book, and perhaps the book might have been better focused on Ingrid and getting on with her life as a single woman in post First World War Germany.
However, perhaps because there is a lot about the family that doesn't bring anything to the story. Or maybe if more of a plot I may have enjoyed it. Its not that I didn’t enjoy, I just found it a bit tedious.
The original premise sounded really good, and the cover is beautiful, however I felt that it focused to long on scenes that added nothing to the story.
Ingrid Hoffmann's sister disappears on her wedding night and Ingrid is left bewildered by her sisters sudden disappearance.
Ingrid's story is set against a background from the tribal uprisings in German Southwest Africa to the Berlin before and after World War One.
Germany after the Great War is depicted well in the lack of young men, money and the effects of the women left behind. And Ingrid is quite a good character. She is intelligent and adaptable but she spends a lot of time tip toeing round. Her sister on the other hand is unbearable and it is almost a relief for the novel when Margarete goes missing. Ingrid however, is torn by her sister’s disappearance, and spends the rest of the novel finding answers.
The book is not an exhaustive investigation by Ingrid though. At times she appears to have no structure to her search, and she leaves many questions unanswered. The story in itself becomes lost in the book, and perhaps the book might have been better focused on Ingrid and getting on with her life as a single woman in post First World War Germany.
However, perhaps because there is a lot about the family that doesn't bring anything to the story. Or maybe if more of a plot I may have enjoyed it. Its not that I didn’t enjoy, I just found it a bit tedious.
The original premise sounded really good, and the cover is beautiful, however I felt that it focused to long on scenes that added nothing to the story.
sarahgb's review
1.0
Well to be honest, I thought this was dreadful. 80% of the book needn't be there. The most interesting bit was at the beginning when they are in Africa, and then the last few chapters at the end.
girlwithherheadinabook's review
3.0
From the very beginning, we are told that the 'other' Hoffmann sister will disappear. Ingrid is the sturdy one, the sensible one, the one who pays attention to her studies. Her elder sibling Margarete is far more sensitive. For Ingrid, the seeds for Margarete's disappearance were sown when the family first decamped from Germany to South West Africa (modern day Namibia) in 1902. The Hoffmanns seek to make their fortune, having bought a large plot of land and a big house from the fading aristocrat Baron von Ketz. Of hazy origins themselves, Herr and Frau Hoffmann have grand plans for their daughters, lording it above their native servants and hoping for an engagement between highly-strung Margarete and von Ketz's son Emil. Fergusson manages to strike a highly effective balance between Ingrid's obliviousness and the tension within her environment - with a protagonist who does not think to ask the questions, or even notice when she is being lied to, how will she ever put the pieces together when disaster finally strikes?
The Other Hoffmann Sister is highly evocative, capturing the era of German imperialism when the aristocracy still had a value and before the devastation of the twentieth century. Ingrid's parents believe that they are buying into a world that will never change, that the German supremacy is unshakable. As the years pass by, we watch as their world crumbles but how their faith is never rattled. They are proud that Baroness von Ketz requests Margarete's company once a week, even though Ingrid longs to go too. Frau Hoffmann is briskly dismissive when Margarete's unwillingness to go seems to drive the young girl towards a breakdown. Their iron will will brook no opposition. The Herero uprising of 1904 claims the life of Baron von Ketz and chases the Hoffmanns plus Emil back to Germany. The years pass and Margarete finally does become engaged to Emil, fulfilling her parents of making their daughter a Baroness. For Ingrid, this surely means that she will no longer have to protect her sister, to keep half an eye on her at all times, that Margarete will have a happy ending. The reader knows better and so we are barely surprised when Margarete vanishes on the eve of her wedding day, presumed drowned in the lake.
Ingrid has spent so much of her time up until this point preoccupied with her own concerns - she frets over Margarete's tantrums and depressions when they mean that her sister misses out on hearing their book read, or when it disrupts her lessons, but there are other times when she is bafflingly incurious. Where Margarete has the beauty, Ingrid is to be the clever one of the family, so she is focussed on her lessons and devoted to the housekeeper's son Hans who teaches her. It is a strange thing to read a book in English about a German girl studying to learn English. Ingrid grows up with an ambition to be a translator, working hard on her collection of poems translated from English to German. This was an interesting linguistic exercise, with Fergusson creating copies of 'translated' English poems ever so delicately adjusted to lose their meaning. Ingrid reads but does not quite comprehend what she sees. As with her books, so with her life.
The icy ambition of the Hoffmann parents is revealed in their pride in having a Baroness daughter, despite the fact that she had apparently ended her own life mere hours after becoming one. With her family frantic to bury any suggestion of scandal and then Europe descending into chaos, Ingrid is blocked on all sides in her attempt to get an answer on what befell her sister. With friends assuring her that Margarete was never strong, that she should let her go, hopes for finding the truth seem destined to fade. However, when Germany finally admits defeat and Berlin falls into disarray following the revolution, Ingrid and her family flee back to the von Ketz estate for sanctuary and Ingrid tries again to discover what on earth became of the other Hoffmann sister.
With a reader primed from the book's opening lines to look for all clues, that Margarete is surely doomed, it is at times frustrating when Ingrid herself notices so little. There are so many junctures when one thinks that surely Ingrid would have asked more questions, but then we remember that the child Ingrid did not have our fore-knowledge. Fergusson is a very atmospheric writer, summoning up the sticky heat of South West Africa, with the two European girls poorly adapted for their new life. The chill of a German winter is summoned up when Ingrid starts her true investigation in the immediate aftermath of the war. However, while this was highly effective, I felt that Fergusson could have spent slightly less time on build-up and slightly more on the plot as at times the action drags a little while we are waiting for Margarete to finally vanish.
In terms of suspense though, I have to admit to have been completely caught up, with the final third definitely the strongest of the novel. I grew genuinely excited as the clues began to draw together in my mind, staying up far past my bedtime because I was desperate to get to the end - I can't remember the last time I did that. Still, even with the final truths revealed, I felt a kind of discontentment. Was it just the extent to which Ingrid had been ignorant, blind even, to what was going on around her? Or was it an actual weakness of the novel? The Other Hoffmann Sister is made of parts which are perhaps greater than the sum of its whole. It is highly descriptive, evokes the feelings and preoccupations of its time period, the characters are richly varied and the novel has an impressively Gothic central mystery. It's just that somehow it fails to quite satisfy - so much of the action has taken place offstage that when we are caught up, the events hold less weight than they should. Ingrid has been necessarily blank for so long, excluded from the family secrets, that she is a difficult protagonist to engage with. Despite its many promising qualities, The Other Hoffmann Sister is rather lacking in terms of its flow.
It may seem that I am being overly critical, but with so much about this novel that I found truly gripping, and the powerful way in which Fergusson is able to transport the reader from South West Africa to Berlin to the crumbling von Kertz estate, I do have a feeling that The Other Hoffman Sister is destined to be the sophomore attempt with Fergusson's career. He has already impressed with The Spring of Kasper Meier and with this book, he solidifies his reputation as a talented writer and I will look forward to what he writes next. I just don't think that The Other Hoffman Sister is destined to be a career highlight.
The Other Hoffmann Sister is highly evocative, capturing the era of German imperialism when the aristocracy still had a value and before the devastation of the twentieth century. Ingrid's parents believe that they are buying into a world that will never change, that the German supremacy is unshakable. As the years pass by, we watch as their world crumbles but how their faith is never rattled. They are proud that Baroness von Ketz requests Margarete's company once a week, even though Ingrid longs to go too. Frau Hoffmann is briskly dismissive when Margarete's unwillingness to go seems to drive the young girl towards a breakdown. Their iron will will brook no opposition. The Herero uprising of 1904 claims the life of Baron von Ketz and chases the Hoffmanns plus Emil back to Germany. The years pass and Margarete finally does become engaged to Emil, fulfilling her parents of making their daughter a Baroness. For Ingrid, this surely means that she will no longer have to protect her sister, to keep half an eye on her at all times, that Margarete will have a happy ending. The reader knows better and so we are barely surprised when Margarete vanishes on the eve of her wedding day, presumed drowned in the lake.
Ingrid has spent so much of her time up until this point preoccupied with her own concerns - she frets over Margarete's tantrums and depressions when they mean that her sister misses out on hearing their book read, or when it disrupts her lessons, but there are other times when she is bafflingly incurious. Where Margarete has the beauty, Ingrid is to be the clever one of the family, so she is focussed on her lessons and devoted to the housekeeper's son Hans who teaches her. It is a strange thing to read a book in English about a German girl studying to learn English. Ingrid grows up with an ambition to be a translator, working hard on her collection of poems translated from English to German. This was an interesting linguistic exercise, with Fergusson creating copies of 'translated' English poems ever so delicately adjusted to lose their meaning. Ingrid reads but does not quite comprehend what she sees. As with her books, so with her life.
The icy ambition of the Hoffmann parents is revealed in their pride in having a Baroness daughter, despite the fact that she had apparently ended her own life mere hours after becoming one. With her family frantic to bury any suggestion of scandal and then Europe descending into chaos, Ingrid is blocked on all sides in her attempt to get an answer on what befell her sister. With friends assuring her that Margarete was never strong, that she should let her go, hopes for finding the truth seem destined to fade. However, when Germany finally admits defeat and Berlin falls into disarray following the revolution, Ingrid and her family flee back to the von Ketz estate for sanctuary and Ingrid tries again to discover what on earth became of the other Hoffmann sister.
With a reader primed from the book's opening lines to look for all clues, that Margarete is surely doomed, it is at times frustrating when Ingrid herself notices so little. There are so many junctures when one thinks that surely Ingrid would have asked more questions, but then we remember that the child Ingrid did not have our fore-knowledge. Fergusson is a very atmospheric writer, summoning up the sticky heat of South West Africa, with the two European girls poorly adapted for their new life. The chill of a German winter is summoned up when Ingrid starts her true investigation in the immediate aftermath of the war. However, while this was highly effective, I felt that Fergusson could have spent slightly less time on build-up and slightly more on the plot as at times the action drags a little while we are waiting for Margarete to finally vanish.
In terms of suspense though, I have to admit to have been completely caught up, with the final third definitely the strongest of the novel. I grew genuinely excited as the clues began to draw together in my mind, staying up far past my bedtime because I was desperate to get to the end - I can't remember the last time I did that. Still, even with the final truths revealed, I felt a kind of discontentment. Was it just the extent to which Ingrid had been ignorant, blind even, to what was going on around her? Or was it an actual weakness of the novel? The Other Hoffmann Sister is made of parts which are perhaps greater than the sum of its whole. It is highly descriptive, evokes the feelings and preoccupations of its time period, the characters are richly varied and the novel has an impressively Gothic central mystery. It's just that somehow it fails to quite satisfy - so much of the action has taken place offstage that when we are caught up, the events hold less weight than they should. Ingrid has been necessarily blank for so long, excluded from the family secrets, that she is a difficult protagonist to engage with. Despite its many promising qualities, The Other Hoffmann Sister is rather lacking in terms of its flow.
It may seem that I am being overly critical, but with so much about this novel that I found truly gripping, and the powerful way in which Fergusson is able to transport the reader from South West Africa to Berlin to the crumbling von Kertz estate, I do have a feeling that The Other Hoffman Sister is destined to be the sophomore attempt with Fergusson's career. He has already impressed with The Spring of Kasper Meier and with this book, he solidifies his reputation as a talented writer and I will look forward to what he writes next. I just don't think that The Other Hoffman Sister is destined to be a career highlight.
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